Project Overview
The Palakkad–Kozhikode corridor is planned as a greenfield, access-controlled highway aiming to improve connectivity between Kerala’s interior and coastal nodes, offering travel-time reduction and enhanced corridor capacity.
Translink was appointed to perform the traffic due diligence for this corridor, covering demand estimation, toll-plaza impact, diversion and growth analysis to support valuation, financial modelling and decision making prior to project implementation.
Scope of Work
Traffic Due Diligence
Corridor Length & Configuration
120 km & 4 lane
No of Toll Plaza
14
Client & Asset Owner
National Highways Authority of India
Scope of Work
Traffic Due Diligence
Corridor Length & Configuration
120 km & 4 lane
No of Toll Plaza
14
Client & Asset Owner
National Highways Authority of India
Challenges
Because the alignment is entirely new, there is no historical traffic data for the corridor itself — estimating traffic demand depends on modelling likely diversion, latent demand, regional growth, and inter-city movement, which involves high uncertainty.
The access-controlled design with toll plazas introduces additional variables: choice of tolling regime, entry-exit locations, and toll sensitivity among users. Forecasting under these conditions demands careful calibration to avoid over-optimistic assumptions while capturing true potential.
Solutions
Translink developed a demand-modelling approach that combines regional travel patterns, inter-city economic activity, population growth, freight movement corridors and nearby origin-destination references to project likely traffic flows post-opening.
Alternate scenarios were prepared to reflect different tolling regimes, plaza placements, and diversion risk — offering a range of conservative-to-moderate forecasts. Sensitivity analysis on key assumptions was conducted to provide a realistic envelope of outcomes.
Impact
The due diligence offers a transparent and validated traffic projection for the greenfield corridor, supporting financial structuring, investor evaluation and phasing decisions.
Stakeholders gain clarity on expected demand under plausible toll and access conditions, reducing risk of overly optimistic estimates. The output helps define tolling strategy, plaza planning, and revenue forecasts — creating a reliable foundation for sustainable development and operation of the highway.
